Andrew K.
Yelp
We all know that Trader Joe's is a national supermarket chain long known for its competitive prices, top-quality, sometimes unique, products, and customer-friendliness. Regrettably, my shopping experiences at any Trader Joe's, until recently, were mostly limited to a few products - including their vast selection of affordable wines, flavored seltzer waters, New Zealand Artesian water, canned tuna, canned beans, peanut butter, teas, ready-to-eat salad kits, and various trail mixes, nuts, and dehydrated fruits.
Moreover, I used to avoid shopping at this location entirely because there is a newer, larger store just 3 miles further out in Fresno, and finding a close parking spot is not as much of an issue.
Then one day, this all changed. After grabbing some of my usual products, I noticed the freshness of some of the berries and heirloom tomatoes but decided to pass on them because I figured I could get them cheaper at Save Mart or Von's. Without doing my research, I asked the store employee Bri, who was ringing up my order, why there was such an inconsistency in pricing depending on the item. She asked me what some of the more expensive items were. When I mentioned the berries and tomatoes, Bri said nearly any item I find at Trader Joe's would be cheaper, including the fruits and vegetables. When I went to the other stores afterward and checked the prices on those items, I saw that the blueberries I was originally eyeing and the heirloom tomatoes were packaged at the same weight but $3 more expensive than Trader Joe's. Wow, Bri was right!
I made sure to grab some blueberries and heirloom tomatoes the following visit here. Only this time, I had forgotten what other items I needed to pick up. Store employee Alexandra, who I had met before, was stocking items on shelves when she noticed me and asked if there was something she could help me find. She brought up a handful of popular items that helped to rejog my memory and then led me to each item I sought. We had a good conversation afterward. She was very sweet, patient, and helpful. Bri glanced over and said hello.
During the following visit, store employee Cami went out of her way to help me find seasonal items and made great suggestions for gifts for coworkers. She took me throughout the store in the process. Later that week, I stopped by to pick some cereal and got tips on items to make my parfait. This time, Harpreet helped me and Cami was there again to assist her with some ideas.
Lastly, Gianna is the store employee I have interacted with the most. She made excellent suggestions on sandwich ideas without bread, meal prep ideas, and healthy snacks. In addition, she confirmed the prices at Trader Joe's are cheaper, or at least competitive, because they carry many of its private labels. Duh! I should have realized this from the jump but I thanked her for pointing that out.
The store is always clean and usually well-stocked. Any store employee you talk to will quickly check the stockroom for any item you cannot find on the shelves. This Clovis location is a smaller store so it is not as crowded as your typical Trader Joe's.
Trader Joe's reputation of having some of the friendliest employees is well known. No more personifies or lives up to this reputation more than this store's very warm and pleasant (not to forget helpful) staff. Many of them are starting to remember my name after every subsequent visit.
My growing shopping list of items to get has expanded to soaps, facial wash, lotion, beef stew meat, organic arugula, herbs, vanilla honey granola, avocados, kettle-style potato chips, Thai curry sauce, pasta, frozen meat lasagna, condiments, milk, and other dairy products, sparkling beverages, Italian sodas, chocolate English toffee, and dark chocolate bars, now that I do not limit what I shop for at Trader Joe's.
